Alliances in politics are formed simply on the basis of political compulsions and convenience or made on a profound ideological premise. When the purpose is served, the ones falling in the category of former wither away whereas the alliances falling in latter stand the tests of time. The dawn of coalition era in Indian politics saw anti Congress sentiments building across the country which gave birth to many political associations. The bonhomie between the saffron partners in the form of Shiv Sena and the BJP in Maharashtra was facilitated by stalwarts, smoothened by formulae and rested amicably on a common philosophical platform.
Unfortunately, Shiv Sena still continues to entrench itself in the past and stakes claim over the legacy of the Maratha king as a natural heir apparent to the same. Those days in the 1990s Sena played the role of the bigger brother and muscled itself into spoils of power at three levels. At the state, it staked the claim of having its own CM, at the centre it hijacked the then BJP led NDA govt over issues notwithstanding demanding pound of flesh in lieu with ministries and finally the third crucial level and its foundations in the form of corporations like the BMC which elicited them with primary power and control.
With Pramod Mahajan, Gopinath Munde and Bal Thackeray around, any form of tug in war was resolved and news of a split or bickering seldom reached the ears of the media. Apart from the fact that the leaders of that generation may have had a different approach to the alliance, the Shiv Sena had a tremendous grip and political space in the state. Perhaps that reflected in the smoothness of the relations as this was accepted as a norm of Sena playing the role of a dominant partner in the association.
With the emergence of Modi- Shah combine outweighing the Advani faction with which the Shiv Sena was more comfortable coupled with the demise of Bal Thackeray opened the doors of mutual hostility and rendered the alliance more sort of an association of compulsion. Cracks seen during the times of nomination of Pratibha Patil for President which was a UPA candidate supported ably by the Shiv Sena was just the beginning as more indirect public war of words ensued and watershed Lok Sabha elections dawned. And so, the three levels at which the Shiv Sena hogged their influence came crashing down at two in a gap of months. A complete majority Modi govt at the centre striped them off the bargaining and black mailing chip. At the state level, they lost their stake to hold on to the CM chair following acrimonious pre-election break up which ensured they now were reduced as a second fiddle to the BJP.
Now as the BMC elections are close, the third foundational level of the Shiv Sena that has seen the party beseech the state is now staring at a defeat and may be an inevitable irrelevance. It’s a double whammy for the Sena as breaking the alliance may not get them those necessary numbers and continuing with the BJP will overshadow their political prospects.
In the midst of all the drama after deciding to fight the BMC polls alone, Shiv Sena today declared Patidar leader Hardik Patel as the face of the party in case it decides to contest polls in Gujarat.
This announcement comes as no surprise as in the past too the Sena has fought elections in UP and resorted to gimmicks in the quest of making BJP uneasy. Interestingly, the party is completely confused with its own ideological inclinations as on one hand it talks about standing for the Marathi people and made a lot of noise about Modi and the domination of the Gujarati community in 2014. Today Shiv Sena spoke about the association of Marathi and Gujarati communities conveniently digressing from the son of the soils issue.
Proudly proclaiming itself as a stanch Hindutva wadi party, hobnobbing with Hardik Patel – an agitator propped up by factional nemesis of Modi has made the Shiv Sena just as any other opportunistic party.
Although these histrionics may be in order to teeth into Gujarati vote bank and divide to spoil BJPs chances, the choice to bank upon Patel spoke volumes of desperation and amounted to widespread ridicule. Hardik Patel – The 23-Year-old leader of the quota movement who is a major critic of the Modi Govt said the Sena is capable of winning the BMC on its own in a press conference seemingly made to look like a public posturing. The Guajarati vote factor is a key in at least 40 of the 227 seats and this may have driven the Sena to piggy back on Hardik Patel.
Shiv Sena which is trapped in its image as a regional party may be attempting to re structure itself to project for an cosmopolitan appeal. Unfortunately, the choice of the leader for its re branding exercise also had another big drawback and highlighted hypocritical overtones considering Hardik Patel is a quota demanding reservation based activist and late Bal Thackeray was against caste based reservations.
With some leaders in Sena saying the ministers of its party in the Fadvanis govt are ready with resignations, reality is that ministers in actuality are reluctant to snap ties in the advent of losing power. The overall Hardik Patel episode also may be a diversionary tactic by the Sena leadership to drown internal rumblings which may further skittle their BMC election prospects.
As the Sena braces itself for the do or die and survive battle, it will do everything it can to stay relevant and wrest control again of the richest municipal corporation in the country. However, its journey for the same seems to be bumpy just like the way potholes infested roads on the streets of Mumbai has done to its citizens. Hardik Patel was a knee jerk reaction to clutch slipping straws but to induct him for staying alive in politics is like Subhash Ghai making a movie with Tushar Kapoor to come back into Bollywood.
